My sister uses oxygen from tanks that were prescribed to my mother. She has recently used almost all of my mother's supply.

Deposed, how about this? You say your sister uses your mother’s oxygen when she’s in Colorado. Since she has her own prescription and you are Leary about calling APS, how about you help your sister arrange for her own oxygen? If she has a prescription, she can contact a local supplier where mom lives and have an oxygen concentrator delivered. My mother does it every time she visits me in California, She just calls Lincare and they bring a concentrator to her hotel or to my house.

I'm not sure I'm following here - if your sister is 73 years old, wouldn't Medicare cover her O2 as well? Is there some sort of cognitive decline going on with your sister, where she can't figure out how to get her own O2?
You say she "self-diagnosed" her need for oxygen, but then she got a script after an ER visit, so that doesn't sound to me like self-diagnosis.
Maybe you could help her secure her own oxygen, then she can stop using your mom's. If she got a prescription, then I'm guessing she must need it.

Since your sister was given her own prescription at some point it’s not inconceivable that she could get her own. I suspect the oxygen use isn’t the real problem or the source of you main complaint/concern but reporting her seems like a nuclear option that might not be the best route to go just yet, it’s apt to cause more strife for you and your mom. Maybe you could try a different approach first and just let your sister know that you are concerned about your mom not having the back up supply she needs in case of a problem so maybe it’s time sister just get her own supply since it seems to help her. The other approach might be concern that they are going to question your moms need for refills so often and you don’t want Sis or Mom to get in trouble for sharing the prescription. Something non confrontational that appears more caring about your sister and your moms health and well being.

You need to find out if your County has an Emergency Management Dept. If so, see if they have a list of people who would need a generator in case of an outage.

I agree, your sister is putting Mom in danger. Hate to say it, but if your sister thinks this is alright, I wonder if she has some mental decline. I would call APS and run it by them.

Inform your sister that she needs to stop using your mom's O2 or you will report her to APS & Medicare. Use of O2 W/O a prescription may cause an issue for her in the future. Call the O2 company to report the problems with the concentrator & have it corrected or exchanged. Make sure to notify your mom's electrical company of her O2 usage so that in case of a power outage she will be a priority in restoring power. Call her pulmonologist to make sure that your mom has enough O2 to last 2 days. If your mom is allowing sister to use her money, that's her right. If your mom is unable to manage her money due to dementia, she needs a POA who can take charge of it for her. They can keep the checkbook & credit card so misuse won't happen. They can arrange for automatic payments for bills & leave mom a small amt. of money for her own use. If sister continues to stay, POA might make her pay rent. Speaking with an elder lawyer about these issues if you can afford it. Best of luck to you. Thank you for trying to protect your mom & her interests.

Also, a tank only lasts about 5 hours. If mom has 2 tanks, that's only about 10 hours; how long were the power outages you were talking about?

Use of oxygen based on her own determination of need for it is a real gamble, and medically irresponsible.

She should also have a pulmonary eval to determine if she really does need oxygen, and if so use her own prescription.

Suggest that she study backpacking and camping at high altitudes and how to acclimate.  Even at 73, it could be helpful for her.

Sorry to write this, but something's truly amiss if your sister is using your mother's oxygen and depriving your mother (and hers!) of the oxygen she needs.   W/o being critical, I'm wondering if your sister does suffer from oxygen deprivation and it's depriving her of thinking clearly.

I need to correct something. Most or all of the oxygen tanks my sister used have been replaced. I thought the ones that I saw had been used because the company that provides the tanks started using a new seal on them that was less obvious and I didn't recognize them. My sister still used the tanks that were intended for my mother, but had many tanks replaced, so my mother is not in great danger if there is an electrical outage. I apologized to my sister for saying that my mother only had about an hour and a half of oxygen left, but she was still stealing my mother's oxygen and I don't know how much she used because I wasn't keeping track of it for the four months that she and her daughter took control of my mother's house, finances, and care.

To anyone who has responded to my problem here and has suggested that I contact Adult Protective Services, I can tell you that El Paso County Adult Protective Services in Colorado is useless in my situation. I contacted the caseworker again and she keeps telling me that APS does not deal with any of my problems. In addition, she has believed lies from my sister without evidence and then asks me for proof when I make a claim. I can tell everyone here for certain that El Paso County APS will do nothing to help my mother. I need to prove my claims, which is not often possible, while the caseworker automatically believes my sister who has no evidence at all to support her claims against me. I have to spend thousands of dollars for an attorney while my sister can get what she wants for free from a useless government agency.

Thank you for your suggestions but my mother is at the mercy of my sister and no one seems willing to help. The government, as usual, is a waste of money.

Yes I feared it would be hard (if not impossible) to prove to APS.

Even if you can't change your sister's behaviour, continuing to protect your Mother's safety is still the priotity.

Who else knows how many O2 bottles there needs to be in reserve & checks this? Are there visiting home care nurses you could inform?

Is taking the O2 the whole promlem here? Or is this the *sister came to care for Mother/plans to take her house* maneuver that entitled siblings think they *deserve*? Is that scenario a real concern to you?